Embrace the Battle - Monday August 10, 2015
If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. Psalm 73:15
When we believe and live out a truth about God, we can expect to find it challenged by the devil at some point. For example, my husband and I believed early on in our marriage the truth, "Children are a blessing" from Psalm 127:3-"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord." (God gave us eight gifts.) Satan comes along and challenges that: "Children are a curse. They're a headache and a heartache. Have one or less." (Obviously, the Europeans have bought into that lie, and many Americans as well.)
Why then should we be surprised if our children's lives are sometimes a battleground? In my college years I pictured life as a flower-filled, sunlit meadow. Now I agree with the song "Dancing in the Minefields." We are out of Eden; our meadows have land mines planted in them. And our faith may come under attack as we fight in spiritual battles for others. Rather than be surprised by problems, I need to face towards my King and saturate my mind in His truth and my heart in His love. The quiet little voice one some-times hears-"Just give up"-is not from God!
Another truth Satan questions is "God is good." I like Andrew Peterson's thought in "Don't You Want to Thank Someone?" on his album After All These Years:
Don't you ever wonder why
In spite of all that's wrong here
There's still so much that goes so right?
Beauty abounds.
Our good God is both Creator and Redeemer. Don't listen to "Just give up." Embrace the battle. We're in this for life.
Submitted by:
Dotty Vanderhorst
Cornerstone Community Church
Overland Park, Kansas
One-Year Reading Plan:
Ezra 10:1-44
1 Corinthians 6:1-20
Psalms 31:9-18
Proverbs 21:3
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